King goes deep for Duke

There’s no special formula or set of ground rules at Duke for when Taylor King is allowed to shoot.
King, one of the most heralded perimeter shooters nationally in the freshman class, led Duke with five 3-pointers and 20 points Friday night in a 121-56 defeat of North Carolina Central in the season opener at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"I shoot when I’m open," King said. "That’s pretty much how I see it."
In Duke’s Blue-White game a couple of weeks ago, King said, he buried a 3-pointer from the "K" that’s written on "Coach K Court." That might be a slight exaggeration. That’s 33 feet from the basket.
He said he missed another 3-point attempt, then buried a second shot from the "K." He looked over at Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"He was like, ‘Whatever, as long as you make them,’. " King said.
Krzyzewski said Friday that he doesn’t judge King’s shots by how far he is from the basket.
"For him the distance isn’t the main thing," Krzyzewski said. "It’s what pressure (is he facing) and are his feet set? And today I thought each shot he took was really good. And he passed up on two good ones to give his teammates two great ones."
If King keeps scoring from deep, comparisons with Duke’s most recent great 3-point shooter, J.J. Redick, are bound to follow. It’s far too soon for that, though, and King is a different kind of player anyway.
Duke is playing him at power forward, and at 6-foot-6 he is pulling opposing forwards far from the basket. Every time he hits a deep one, the driving lanes for his teammates get wider.
"When he can stretch the defense like that, it only helps our team," said teammate Lance Thomas. "He’s a zone buster. ... If he shoots it, I know it’s going in."
-- Ken Tysiac